TOMS RIVER, NEW JERSEY
Assuming the beige marbled brewhouse previously run by Rinn Duin, TOMS RIVER BREWING took over this novel Jersey Shore chateau-like villa springtime 2019. New owner Jim Mulligan’s transformative grand reopening featured head brewer Bob Warzecha’s newly designed wide ranging ales, utilizing natural fruit extracts and flavoring.
A left side community-tabled Beer Garden (with green umbrellas) edges the narrow pub space. A ten-seat L-shaped bar with speckled gray granite top opposes the windowed brew tanks and a few high top tables line the walls of the high ceilinged room.
My wife and I visited TRB, August ’21, to suck down a dozen varied 5-ouncers in the breezy warmth of the Beer Garden.
A well respected holdover from Rinn Duin, St. John’s Irish Red took perfumed hop-spiced red and orange fruiting to caramelized barley-roasted chocolate and toffee whims.
Delightful light-bodied Koastal Kolsch let sweet-riced maize-flaked pilsner malting receive slightly sour lemon-dried Noble hop herbage and wispy floral-daubed botanicals.
Cali-styled Cascade hops provided perfumed lemon oiling to mash-billed corn flaked Kentucky graining for Cal-Tucky Common Ale, a simple carapils-malted moderation.
Diffident coriander-spiced orange zesting slacks off for soapy At Wits End, a grassy herbal hopped witbier with frail white wheat base.
Traditional Polish smoked wheat ale, Thadeusz Piwo (Ted’s Beer), a low alcohol ‘grodiskie,’ promoted beechwood-charred blackened rye graining over proper phenol hop astringency.
Summery watermelon-pureed Jolly Rancher bubblegum knockoff, The Gnar Watermelon Gose, a sea-salted Sour Patch-candied libation with earthen herbal frisk.
Sea-salted peach puree souring guided The Dude Peach Gose, relegating lemony grapefruit bittering.
Tart Belgian-styled hybrid, Celtic Sunrise Blood Orange Pale Ale, rendered salty blood orange, tangerine and clementine spicing for its light herbal soothe.
Sessionable yogurt-soured New England IPA, Gimme Mo,’ brought Motueka-hopped guava, gooseberry and green grape tartness to herb-licked pale malt spicing.
Floral-perfumed citrus spicing guarded white IPA, Windy Seas, forwarding its brisk lemon spritz to the cracker-like spine.
Limey mango salting picked up earthen herbal compost reminder for lactic IPA, Takes Two To Mango, leaving grassy hop astringency on its mild fruited tropicalia.
Bold dry-hopped Imperial IPA (9% ABV), New Beginnings, placated its sweetly soured passionfruit-addled melon scurry and lemony grapefruit bittering with floral-bound pine tones above plentiful caramel malt sugaring.
